Say Tea

Tea Pop Sipdown (266)

This is another tea from Evol Ving Ness. I am slowly but surely working my way through the teas from our swap and am almost done finishing them all off.

This was a teapop I enjoyed in our $30 pool after working out a couple days ago. While the pool was very refreshing, this tea was not. The base component was very sharp which made it come off medicinal and astringent. I was not a fan.

Nonetheless, thank you Evol Ving Ness for sharing this with me. It is always nice to try something new, even if it doesn’t quite go as planned.

HGTTB

I brewed this up last night and only after I did so, I realized this was an earl grey. Consequently I was hesitant but I actually enjoyed this. The bergamot wasn’t over powering or floral but rather it was bright and citrusy and blended beautifully with the berry flavors. It was actually a pleasant cup which is not something I say about earl teas often. Perhaps I’m warming up to them…

HGTTB

I didn’t realise this was an earl grey + berry tea. I, as a general rule don’t like most earl greys…that damn blergamot you know. :( However, this was an interesting blend with the addition of the berry. It would never be something i’d need to stock but it was a fairly enjoyable cup this morning. the base didn’t overwhelm and there was no bitterness or blah to the tea.

This brew was not what I expected. When I usually see “house blend” I think a malty and robust brew. If not that, then I think of something fruity and generic. This brew was quite different. It reminds me of “The Naught Vicar”, which is another blend from this company. The only difference is that it’s a lot softer. The flavors are somewhat muted and smooth. It has a quiet grape flavor with a slight tang to it. The woodsy taste of the black tea has been replaced by a sweet flavor. This is a very basic, yet enjoyable tea.

To be honest I have been avoiding this one. I was intrigued at first by name but upon smelling the dried leaves it was quickly put back. I got over my pickiness and decided tonight was the night. I brewed the leaves western styled and the aroma of lime, lemon, and watermelon rose from my mug. The liquor is an interesting cherry red. The initial flavor is a sour cherry. It reminds me of a cherry flavored warhead, but without the tears of pain and throbbing on the ground. It mostly stays that sweet sour “red” taste. This tea would probably be a lot better cold brewed. I couldn’t get past the candy flavor.

mmmmm delicious!! This brew contains some of my favorite flavors. It balances well with the fruity of the gojis, herbal of the flowers, and finishes with the roast of a dark oolong. I brewed western with my press. The steeping itself smelled delectable. Its an almost amazonian aroma. I can smell jungles and mist all in the peak of spring. I really wish I had more of this, I guess I’ll have to stock up. The flavor is a calm but vibrant taste. It starts with punch of the gojis and smooths out with the dark oolong. It has a living wood kind of taste. The jasmine is almost non-existent except for the aroma. Then, the jasmine shows up with a floral and pleasing aftertaste. Altogether this is an enjoyable brew.

Huzzah a tea with goji berries! I just wish it was a green oolong instead of a black. As I seem to not be big on the black but regardless this is good. The goji berries create a really nice slightly sweet flavor to balance out the earthyness of the oolong.

This is quite a unique tea! I want to say it has a woodsy, maybe ceylon base, but I don’t know my black tea as well as green tea. I’m assuming the flavoring is coming from the soursop fruit. I’ve never tasted one before but if it’s anything like this tea I’m sure it’s good. Clear medium amber color. Not much smell to the dry or wet leaves.

Hidden Gems TTB #18

This makes for a nice breakfast tea: Earl Grey, but with a strong berry flavor added. (Apparently, it’s supposed to be black current? I really couldn’t tell from the taste.) The flavoring was nicely balanced with the base and there was no bitterness and only a touch of astringency; I enjoyed it even without milk.This isn’t something I need in my cupboard, but I enjoyed sampling it!

Mmm, another sample from Anlina. :) I agree, this one starts out in the bag smelling like your average milk oolong, but once brewed it gets interesting! Green and vegetal, but also rich and creamy. Kind of a herbal vegetal, rather than grassy or vegetable. Neat, I like it.

Cooking TTB #7

This was unlike any other tea I’ve had. It was delightfully sour in a way that hibiscus often wishes it could be. I read that soursap is supposed to taste similar to pineapple and something else…I can see the comparison to pineapple, which would probably be made stronger by the addition of sugar.

I had this both hot and cold (which means I intended to have it hot but got distracted part of the way through my cup and came back to it being cold…and I’m totally okay with that!) I really liked it both ways. I can imagine this would be quite refreshing as an iced tea in summer.

I’m grateful for the chance to try so many different teas that I would normally never be brave enough to order without trying!

Mm this is a lovely, bold tea. Super malty, a touch of smoke and ripe fruit, and a bit of a brassy character. A hint of bitterness and only the faintest trace of astringency – quite a smooth This would make a great morning blend – really easy to drink, with a bit of a kick.

Mmm lovely sweet, tangy cherry flavour. Candy-like but mild. A touch of woody rooibos but very subtle. The dry leaf smelled very medicinal, but none of that came through in the cup.

Meh, this is okay but not great.

It has a slightly roasty flavour, a bit of astringency and a delicate vegetal note. I think what mostly I disliked about this is that the flavour reminded me a lot of when I would occasionally drink bagged green tea from Tim Hortons during class, and it was never steeped for the right amount of time or at the right temperature. I kept trying it and concluding that I must not like green tea that much. I do think I’m just not a huge fan of many roasted teas.

Maybe I’ll give this another shot – I think I actually came up a bit short on steeping it and maybe the vegetal note would develop more with another 15 seconds.

This morning I’m sampling Monk’s Blend from Say Tea and Metropolitan Tea Company.

I was initially going to pass on Say Tea’s Monk’s Blend, but the owner encouraged me to try it, as it’s their own special blend that is grenadine with orange rather than vanilla. Since this sounded different from what I had in my cupboard, I figured I’d give it a try.

And it is different, really different.

The dry leaf for both teas looks very similar, but this one smells intensely of orange and grenadine in a way that’s bordering on medicinal or candy-like. Steeped, the smell of the tea itself comes out more, to mellow the fruit fragrance.

This is a nice, malty Ceylon, with just a hint of astringency. The orange and grenadine flavours are present but not overpowering, and overall it’s nicely balanced. The orange lingers on the finish with a candy quality to it.

Very tasty and easy to drink, though not really a stand out tea for me. I will finish the 2oz I have, but probably wouldn’t buy it again.

Lovely made grandpa style in my travel mug. Which I then just sat at home and sipped at, and forgot when I went out. :P

This smells like any other milk oolong in the bag – super buttery and rich, as do the steeped leaves and liquor. And yet, it’s pretty different. There’s the creamy, buttery notes, but depending on the sip, they keep shifting balance with notes of earth, tangy vegetal and ginseng.

I initially steeped this for four minutes and the leaves were still tightly rolled, and only the ginseng and earth notes were present. Another minute and a half made it much fuller and more complex.

There’s also a distinct cooling sensation in the finish. Like mint without the mint flavour. As I sip the cup I start to get an ever so slight dry mouth feel, and as it cools there’s a growing sweetness.

The second steep was very drinkable, a bit more vegetal and floral but not overly interesting.

Not my favourite milk oolong, but interesting and nice.

Oh so good, so so good as an iced tea. Cold steeped 6 tsp in 1.5l of water for about 10 hours. A touch astringent but delicious.

This tastes like guava candies.

Yes! So good! I knew when I smelled this, that I had to have it.

Lots of Asian restaurants around here give out soursop hard candies instead of mints with the bill, and admittedly, when there’s just a bowl of them by the till, I usually grab as many as I feel I can get away with. They’re delicious and I’ve yet to find them in Chinatown to buy.

This tea tastes like those candies. The black base is a bit rough, but the soupsop flavour is so good that they work together really well. The flavour is mouth filling, very accurate and lingers beautifully on a long finish. This isn’t a complicated tea, but it’s so tasty.

I will give this a try with sugar at some point, but I’m really pleased that it doesn’t need it. It’s got a bit of natural sweetness, a bit of sour that isn’t actually tart and it’s amazing.

I sometimes think that maybe I’m drifting away from flavoured teas, but ones like this bring it all home for me.

Makes an awesome latte. Lots of bergamot & black currant flavour.

I guess I was craving black currant this morning.

This is a nice blend of Earl Grey with black currant. The black base is a bit malty, with a touch of astringency, with a light bergamot flavour. There’s a very distinct black currant nose, but on the palate, it’s more of a blended berry. This was pretty good straight, but better with a bit of sugar.

There’s also a really interesting and powerful cooling sensation from this tea, almost as if it contains mint or menthol, but I can’t detect anything like that except that even after a sip of hot tea my mouth feels very cool.

This is a very nice blueberry black tea. More sweet than tart, it leans a bit more toward a blueberry jam than fresh blueberry flavour.

Not as complex as The Tea Emporium/Seven Sister’s Blueberry, but a very passable substitute. There’s definitely no lack of blueberry flavour.

Tired, headachey and irritable – this was the perfect cup. Smoke and bergamot. Delicious.